#if you're at all interested i'd highly recommend though!

[youresodarkbabe]

MAEVE CAN WE TALK ABOUT GIVING FETUS!ALEX HIS FIRST BLOWJOB!?!?!?! PLEASEPLEASE

okay, i'm heavily sleep deprived so here's just some ideas i have about this (maybe they'll turn into a fic, idk)

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

he'd go from awkward to a fucking mess so so fast. like blink of an eye fast.

"are you sure? you don't need to do this f'me," to being the loudest person in the vicinity.

whispered groans -> loud, whimper-y moans

god forbid your hair looked nice before, because it definitely wouldn't after! his hands would find your hair and STAY THERE.

him being too scared to tug on your hair and mess it up, but eventually pulling when his tip grazes the back of your throat.

he'd instantly apologize, being shocked when you tell him it's okay.

he'd be even more shocked if you told him to keep doing it.

thrusting into your mouth as he gets closer, mumbling apologies in between moans because he didn't mean to 'hurt you'. (all you did was gag, this man is just insane)

the eye contact.

especially before it actually starts, as you kiss your way down his clothed torso, his anxious eyes meeting your reassuring ones; as you press kisses to his cock, he'd look so interested, so genuinely baffled that someone like you would do this for someone like him.

the whining, the whimpers, the moans (i need him rn.)

whining if you tease him, "c'mon, be nice," and giving you a lil pout.

whimpering as he gets closer and closer, "please, feels s' good, fuck," his cute lil face all scrunched up because he's feeling too good and it's overwhelming him in the best ways possible.

moaning as you guide him through his high, too fucked out to form a single thought, his words mirroring his thoughts— just you.

praising and thanking you so much after.

"that was so good, god,"/"i wanna make it up to you"/"that was the best thing ever"

just being the biggest loser about it (i say this with love).

having to tell him you don't want him to return the favour, all you need is to be with him and you're happy.

him agreeing but already planning on when he'd give you what he owes you.

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

i'm not really the best when it comes to fetus alex fics 😭 i'd highly recommend @goblinontour, though! her fetus al fics are <<33

[mygreatadventurehasbegun]

OK.

So I've kind of been obsessing over The Crow since watching it for the first time last Friday.

I cannot believe it took me this long to watch it because it is so up my alley and once I get a physical copy that can work in my blu-ray player (I bought a 4K and didn't realize until I'd opened it), I can totally see this becoming a comfort movie.

Bad day?

Watch The Crow.

Home sick?

Watch The Crow.

But I want to talk about what might be my favorite scene in the movie.

Which may seem an odd choice compared to something like the scene at the pawn shop, where we get to see Eric have a little fun...his humor and personality come through along with the menace.

But this scene with Eric and Tin Tin?

It is fantastic.

I love how it starts with Eric experimenting...testing to see how far he can go...ending with that maniacal, gleeful laugh when he discovers he is impervious to harm.

But it gets really good when he confronts Tin Tin.

When you see him through the fire, he's like an animal. He has his prey in sight, and nothing will get in his way.

He is being fueled purely by his rage.

And when he screams: "MURDERER!!!" at Tin Tin, it legit gives me chills.

And then the dialogue between them starts and he switches. He is no longer being fueled by rage alone...now the pain is starting to creep in. But the pain is keeping his rage in check...for now. And I find it interesting that it almost seems to physically hurt him when Tin Tin starts talking about what he did to Shelly. Which of course, is what gives Tin Tin the brief upper hand in the fight.

But he's fighting a temporarily immortal being, and so that upper hand doesn't last. I'm obsessed with the way Eric avoids the knives (I guess you missed Tin Tin) and how he turns the table to take his first act of vengeance.

I lot of the reason I love this scene really comes down to Brandon Lee's performance. Like I said earlier, this is his rage and pain laid bare and Brandon Lee did such an outstanding job and physicalizing it and making it so palpable. Again, hearing about the pain Shelly went through seems to physically hurt him (which we also see in later scenes)...and I interpret the story as Eric came back to avenge Shelly's death, not his own.

And the other reason I love this scene is the fight choreography. Of the four villains Eric goes after, Tin Tin is really the only one who put up a fight (I know Fun Boy's scene was longer where they actually fought once Darla left), and so that makes the scene a bit more interesting to watch. But the fight is very raw and rough...I appreciate the fact that the fight wasn't "perfect", even though they could have easily done it, considering all of Brandon Lee's skills. And the knife work is really cool, culminating in that final blow with "Victims. Aren't we all?"

I am so happy I finally got to see this movie.

And if you're looking for something to watch this Halloween season, I highly recommend this one!

[solarsimblr]

Sorry if I overlooked it, but do you have a list/wheel posted somewhere for the events you're using in your Emerald Pine series? You've inspired me to try my own version for the Sims 4 but my lord, there's a lot to go through when getting started lol I think my brain might explode.

Hey! I've pretty much been using a combination of these two lists, with just minor edits. I put all the challenges I liked into one big list and updated the weightings so that major events are still relatively rare. More recently, I discovered @kayleigh-83's wonderful list and I'll probably incorporate some of her scenarios soon too!

I know a lot of people use this ROS program to randomize events, and that's definitely the easiest way to get started, since the lists I linked above are all already formatted for it! Personally, I had/have too much free time and wanted something more customizable, with integrated dice rolls, so I created my own randomizer using Perchance. I'd share the link, but I played around too much and the UI is a mess right now 🙈 Perchance is fairly user-friendly, though, so I highly recommend it if you're interested in that sort of thing! 😊

[alicepao13]

Hudson and Rex Episodes

It has come to my attention that Hudson and Rex episodes are not easily accessible to a lot of people, despite it being broadcasted in many countries. I was looking for a place to archive the episodes myself in good quality as a backup but up until recently, the 1080p rips were huge so it was an impossible feat. I finally found some mkv ones that are not as ginormous as the others, and I'd like to share them with the fandom.

Disclaimer: I did not do these rips or the transcoding. I haven't checked the episodes one by one to see if there are any faults with them, just a few as random tests, I also watched a few, and they were all good, subtitles were working and in sync, etc.

What you need to know before downloading:

The files are in mkv format and Mega, the host I've uploaded them on, does NOT have a player to play MKVs online. The links are for downloading, or alternatively transferring to your own Mega account, not for online streaming.

The video codec is HEVC, which is why the size of the episodes is not huge. That might affect some older computers which may not have this codec, though. Read about HEVC here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding and if it's missing, you can add the HEVC codec.

Same goes for your tv if you choose to play them in one (although you probably can't add the codec there). I generally recommend downloading one episode as a test. If it plays in your device, they all should play in that device.

Most of the files have forced English subtitles on them. I am unfamiliar with forced subtitles in general. You may have trouble removing them on a tv, maybe. I've tested them only using VLC on my computer and they can appear and disappear just fine when I choose so like normal subs do. Forced subtitles are not hard-coded subtitles.

Episodes S01E01 - S06E06 were all transcoded by one team as it was a pack, the rest by another, as the first pack was uploaded during this winter hiatus and there was no other upload by the first team for the rest. I only see small differences between the episodes, not worthy of a mention. I've kept the original file names, so you will know when the teams change if you're interested in that (team name is the last input on the title of the file).

The size of all the episodes in total is around 92GB. When you go to download them, each file will also display the size of it.

How to download (skip this if you've downloaded from Mega before):

Even if you have set your browser to ask you where to download the file, Mega will download the file you requested entirely before asking you were to save it. It's how their cloud service works. You don't need to download anything else to get these files, just right-click a file and click Download, and then Standard Download when the submenu opens. You do not need to download the Mega Desktop App, unless you want to download the entire folder at once as a ZIP file. I don't know how many concurrent downloads a free user gets on Mega, or limitations regarding the GBs per day on free users.

Mega suggests users download using Chrome or a Chromium based browser, however downloading the files one by one should work in any browser.

If you have a download manager, just load these folders in it and it will do the job better than your browser.

If you attempt this with a smartphone, then I highly suggest you download the Mega mobile app. I don't think the files will download to your phone otherwise.

Links:

These lead to each season's folder of episodes. Only copy the link below, do not copy the season identifier at the start of each line. Make sure you copy the entire link especially the S4 one which apparently continues in a second line.

S1: https://mega.nz/folder/1ZMTlbpY#DqS2V2KKgeajbINzx8c6Pg

S2: https://mega.nz/folder/kZE1yTTC#p29HrvXgahGXW-0rlzx77Q

S3: https://mega.nz/folder/0Bt3gBJL#hcX7tjU1GScmprTc0nkc0w

S4: https://mega.nz/folder/UQFD3SZZ#nbGJeLzH2IHLVpVFyK750A

S5: https://mega.nz/folder/ARkzUQbS#eS1Yy11x_DEPg3T2bD5ozw

S6: https://mega.nz/folder/lBUFnBwb#WszZvKLzfpRKVvuz5B78Nw

Other information:

I'll try to keep the links up as long as I can but I suggest keeping your own copies. Mega does not offer that amount of space for free, so this is a paid cloud service. I'm not looking for anyone to participate on the upkeep but there might be a day when these links will be taken down for any number of reasons. Personally, I don't trust the cloud. Keep local copies of anything you don't want to lose.

If these are reported, I will not be reuploading them and I assume that reporting may also take down my account with them so I will probably also not be able to be a paying customer of their service either way. So, keep the sharing of the links within the fandom. I will not tag this post, but I highly encourage reblogging it to spread the info.

I suggest that anyone who wants to share this with a lot of people should make their own cloud backup. The purpose of me uploading these links is, ironically, not piracy. The purpose is to make the episodes easily accessible to fans.

I will not upload these in other cloud services, if anyone wants to go upload these in google drive, for example, I'm not willing to risk it but of course, anyone else willing to do it is welcome to.

If anyone has questions or concerns, I'll be glad to answer them. Not everyone is familiar with hosting sites, but this is easier than a torrent. I'm sure I've forgotten things which to me may seem simple.

[littlewigglers]

hi!!! you dont have to answer this but a few months ago (august) i got a Giant Gold Millipede (Orthroporus ornatus) and I'd love to know what you do to have a vivarium like I've seen in your posts!

Also, is she going to be alright if I get another millipede, or springtails, or put isopods inside? I haven't honestly seen much information, and I'd love to be pointed towards some sources or get advice directly! Thank you :)

Here's Sisyphus and her tank! There's a vinegar trap in the corner to catch fruit flies (if theres a solution for that let me know, but i know the decaying material and the moisture is going to attract them), a tray where I usually put her food, and a toilet paper roll for her to curl up in. She's dug a handful of tunnels as well. There's a heating pad to keep it Somewhat Warm on the left side, especially since she's right by the back door and against an outside wall.

I usually feed her twice to four times a week, or when I notice she's lost interest in her current food. I try to water her every day, but sometimes I do a more heavy spray if I miss one.

Hey there first off love Sisyphus, give her a kiss for me on her little head.

To answer your questions I'm gonna bullet point them to keep myself right.

Springtails are a tanks best friend, completely harmless to your pets and they help keep any mold down, highly recommend getting a culture of them. I personally just keep them in my tanks but a friend of mine has a separate tank he keeps a a back up culture of them in encase the tank ones die out.

I'm mixed on keeping isopods in with Millipedes. They're always in my tanks because I just can't get them out and they don't seem to do any harm but after a few months they always end up over running my tanks and I have to clear them out. They're also know to eat eggs so they're a real pain if you're trying to breed your millipedes. If you really want some I'd recommend a slower breeding species of them. Those seem to be the little armadillo ones, the ones that can curl up all cute.

I could get your millipede another little millipede friend, they do seem to be more active when I've had more than one together, even if it's just the same species which is always the safest bet. If you do want to get another but different species make sure they have the same needs in terms of space, soil, temp, humidity and food.

As for the flies and tank

I use fly trap stickers, the ones you'd put on your window in my tank. It might sound dangerous for the Millipedes but you can either put it on the top of the tank or cut it up into smaller part. Also with my bigger species they literally treat the stickers like a buffet and have no problems walking over the surface of them with their feet. It goes without saying but no NOT get any chemical traps for them.

I'd say the key thing you're missing from your tank is hids and places to climb, you've lots of nice pieces of wood scattered about but nothing lifted up to make a little 'cave' as well as something to climb over. Cork bark is the go to most people use, I also have some pretreated drift wood I got from an aquarium store in mine as well. Careful though! if you give them things to climb make sure the tank is escape proof.

Just something I noticed myself, make sure to check under the moss now and again to make sure the soil itself is staying a nice leave of damp but not too wet. I've had mine get dry when the moss looked wet before.

If you've the funds I'd suggest getting a little timer plug for the heatmat to 1. make sure the tank doesn't get over heated 2. to save some electricity.

I personally don't mist every single day as an overly humid tank isn't always great for a millipede depending on the species. They can end up with leg rot if there the tanks kept too wet.

Other advice I can give

Remove food from the tank after a few days for sure. It stops mold from happening and also helps stop any smell building up

Try not to let the food sit in water, I see you have a little dish for it and it will easily collect water and just makes the food kinda mold faster and stink.

The paper tube you have is also just another thing than can get mold on it, you'd be better off removing it I think.

If you add wood to the tank to use as hides made sure to check on it now and again for mold.

You're probably getting the theme of this now but NO MOLD!! Make sure to check the tank for mold now and again, it's not good for your little guys.

As for like links and resources I buy all my stuff from local reptiles stores so I can't really help much there with links of sites, I also don't DIY any of my stuff from like the ground either so I can't give tips on that either. Only thing I can really help with is I have an exo terra tank, I got it second hand and you'd be really surprised what you can get second hand either on local buy and sell groups, facebook market place or even just being cheeky and asking reptile stores if they have any old tanks that aren't fit to sell on shelves anymore. I got mine as a reptile store heavily discounted because someone had got something stuck on the doors and they jam a little now and have a mark on the front.

I THINK that's everything I can think of, hope it helps.

[pomodoko]

I don’t think his crush on Falin makes him creepy. Obviously Laios shouldn’t be giving microaggressions and should learn from his ignorance! I don’t think Toshiro is shallow and wholly hates Laios, yet I despise him as a person… He’s known Laios long enough to know that “dropping hints” is not a mature or effective response even though it makes sense why he didn’t have the courage to speak directly. Shuro being a fake friend was an issue long before his breaking point. Yes, he was repressed, envious and there were communication issues, but Shuro was also very genuinely ableist. Even if Shuro ‘is’ neurodivergent, people can be cruel to other neurodivergent people who are seen as less socially acceptable. Vitriol towards someone “not reading the room” is repulsively ableist.  Of course he isn’t the only one who’s ableist in the story, but the shattering of Laios’s trust is gross. Laios tries to mask but is unable to. Shuro is also a rich noble whose family literally OWNS Izutsumi (& possibly Tade). Yet he does not care about the ethics behind that. Not that he hates her necessarily, but the cold way he treats her reveals that he does not care enough to adapt to the struggles of those who are different / difficult. I feel like his spineless inaction is both a means to avoid conflict, but also a barrier that prevents him from treating others with respect. I think it’s logical for someone to dislike this dude.

I feel like there's a lot of feelings in this writing that you gotta dial back. I totally understand where you're coming from, though. Being told to "read the room" was something I've experienced. I've been betrayed by people I thought were friends because I didn't know what I was doing was annoying them. It really hurt!

I also need to admit I've been on the other side, too! I don't like confrontations at all, but I've let things boil over because I was so afraid of confrontations that I'd snapped at my friends. Especially in Toshiro's state in which he was starving and lacking sleep and just saw his own love interest kill all of his retainers. If I was in his shoes, I'd snap, too! 😭

I wouldn't use the phrase "dropping hints" though. At least from my POV as an Asian from a high-context culture, where there's like, social hierarchy and such, and a lot of politeness abound. When it's something that you've been raised with for years and years, it's really hard to drop. Of course it's gonna be an issue! I think Ryoko Kui writing their argument and fight is a criticism on Japan's "high-context to the point of self-sabotage" culture. But it's important to note that it ended with both of them talking things out and Toshiro straight up saying "hey if you need to run I promise to smuggle you all out of the country". Here are some posts that I recommend reading that expand on it really well: here, here, here, here, and here.

In terms of Toshiro's family owning people, it's expanded more in the manga how these things came to be, but I'd suggest putting it in context of the manga rather than IRL. Toshiro came from the equivalent of Feudal Japan, after all. Here are some more posts talking about that (highly recommend the first one! it's a great read!): here, here (contains spoilers for the ending), and here. Do note that he treats all of his subordinates with respect, and he literally begged for their aid on his hands and knees to save Falin.

Anyway, at the end of the day, you're still going to dislike Toshiro and that's fine. My goal isn't to push my interest and opinions onto other people. I just didn't want him to be disliked shallowly, by reasons that are false or blown out of proportion. The characters of Dungeon Meshi are extremely flawed and incredibly well written, and it's really hard to see characters of color be judged more harshly. It feels the fandom's treatment of these characters will reflect on myself, and that's scary.

[fallowhearth]

Book Review - Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

A fun but undemanding heist novel which ended up being the right kind of palette cleanser following my recent reading. I found the first third to be a bit underwhelming, as I wasn't really gelling with the character voices, but it picked up significantly through the middle and stuck the landing.

The setting is quite interesting, and is one of the rare cases where magic is taken seriously as both a technology and as part of an economic model. While it wasn't the main focus of the story, I enjoyed the moments where scientific advances proceeded from a need to solve technical problems in magical item development. It takes place in the metropole of an explicitly colonialist society whose economics rely on the exploitation of subjugated people/lands. All of this was portrayed fairly accurately in my opinion, even if the narrative did not dive particularly deep. You get the impression well thought out, coherent worldbuilding, even if it is only being lightly surfaced.

The cast of characters were perfectly likeable but unfortunately landed a little flat to me. The main character, Sancia, had the misfortune to fall into an archetype that I'm personally a little tired of. Emotionally-repressed highly-competent hard-done-by teenage lesbian thief. It sounds niche but it's surprisingly common. Though to the book's credit, the budding romance between Sancia and her prospective love interest was refreshingly forthright. There was blushing but blessedly little. And they moved past that with clear communication. So small mercies. It's not the kind of story shape to call for deep nuanced characterisation, so the cast do their job.

This might be another personal issue, as I've read a lot of this kind of story, but I did find the reveals and twists to be a little delayed - I'd worked them all out well in advance of the characters, both on an overall plot and scene-to-scene level. I wonder if other readers experienced the same, or if it was just right for a younger/newer audience.

Overall, would recommend, as long as you're going in with calibrated expectations. I definitely don't regret reading this and will pick up the sequels.

[commodorez]

Hi! I'm so sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm completely clueless on computers, but I want to learn about them. Any places you'd recommend starting for bare bones beginners? I'm also interested in early-mid 90's tech particularly too. I'm guessing I have to figure out the basics before I can move onto specific tech though, right?

You're really knowledgeable and nice so I figured I'd just ask. Any help at all would be appreciated. Thank you! :]

That's an excellent question, I don't think I've been asked it before in such a general sense. I was raised with the benefit of being immersed in computers regularly, so providing a solid answer may be a bit difficult since for the basics, I never had to think about it.

I had computer classes of various types throughout my school years. We learned how to use a mouse, typing, word processing, programming -- and that was all before middle school. We got proper typing, html, and general purpose computer science courses in middle and high school, and you can bet I took those too. I also have the benefit of a bachelors of science in computer science, so you'll forgive me if my answer sounds incredibly skewed with 30+ years of bias.

The biggest suggestion I can give you is simply to find a device and play with it. Whatever you can get your hands on, even if its not that old, as long as it's considered past its prime, and nobody will get upset of you accidentally break something (physically or in software). Learning about things with computers in general tends to have some degree of trial and error, be it programming, administrating, or whatever -- try, learn, and start over if things don't work out as expected the first time. Professionals do it all the time (I know I do, and nobody's fired me for it yet).

Some cast-off 90s or early 00's surplus office desktop computer running Windows would be a good start, just explore it and its settings. Start digging into folders, see what's installed, see what works and more importantly what doesn't work right. Try to find comparable software, and install it. Even the basics like old copies of Microsoft Office, or whatever.

I recommend looking through the available software on winworld as it's an excellent treasure trove of operating systems, applications, games, and other useful software of the time period. I'd link it directly, but tumblr hates links to external sites and will bury this post if I do. If you're a mac fan, and you can find an old G3 or Performa, there is the Macintosh Garden's repository of software, but I'm not the right person to ask about that.

Some of you might be like "oh, oh! Raspberry Pi! say Raspberry Pi!" but I can't really recommend those as a starting point, even if they are cheap for an older model. Those require a bit of setup, and even the most common linux can be obtuse as hell for newcomers if you don't have someone to guide you.

If you don't have real hardware to muck about with, emulation is also your friend. DOSBox was my weapon of choice for a long time, but I think other things like 86Box have supplanted it. I have the luxury of the real hardware in most cases, so I haven't emulated much in the past decade. Tech Tangents on youtube has a new video explaining the subject well, I highly recommend it. There are plenty of other methods too, but most are far more sophisticated to get started with, if you ask me.

For getting a glimpse into the world of the 90s tech, if you haven't already discovered LGR on youtube, I've been watching his content for well over a decade now. He covers both the common and esoteric, both hardware and software, and is pretty honest about the whole thing, rather than caricaturish in his presentation style. It might be a good jumping off point to find proverbial rabbits to chase.

I guess the trick is to a find a specific thing you're really interested in, and then start following that thread, researching on wikipedia and finding old enthusiast websites to read through. I'm sure there are a few good books on more general history of 90s computing and the coming internet, but I'm not an avid reader of the genre. Flipping through tech magazines of the era (PC Magazine comes to mind, check archive dot org for that) can provide a good historical perspective. Watching old episodes of the Computer Chronicles (youtube or archive dot org) can provide this too, but it also had demonstrations and explanations of the emerging technologies as they happened.

There are so many approaches here, I'm sure I've missed some good suggestions though. I also realized I waffle a bit between the modern and vintage, but I find many computing troubleshooting skillsets transcend eras. What works now can apply to 10, 20, 30, or sometimes even 40+ years ago, because it's all about mindset of "this computer/program is dumb, and only follows the instructions its given" . Sometimes those instructions are poorly thought out on the part of the folks who designed them. And those failures are not necessarily your fault, so you gotta push through until you figure out how to do the thing you're trying to do. Reading the documentation you can find will only take you so far, sometimes things are just dumb, and experimentation (and failures) will teach you so much more about the hard and fast rules of computers than anything else. I'm rambling at this point...

So, let's throw the question to the crowd, and ask a few other folks in the Retrotech Crew.

@ms-dos5 @virescent-phosphor @teckheck @jhavard @techav @regretsretrotech @airconditionedcomputingnightmare @aperture-in-the-multiverse -- anything big I missed?

[randomfoggytiger]

“Touchstone” anon here! First off THANK YOU!! Amazing, amazing meta analysis as always!

Secondly, can you do that again but this time with Mulder and Scully’s relationship after all things?

If you have already written a meta about that please direct me to it. I still have a lot of catching up to do! ♥️ ♥️

I don't think I have, Anon. X(((( The closest meta I have along those lines is my on-going, in-depth Mulder's Alien Baby Baby Trauma series (which you can locate through a hashtag of the same name, Part 1 here)-- but that tackles the unspoken dynamics between Mulder, Scully, their baby, his PTSD, and his reintegration into life more so than their personal relationship (though that will play a role later.)

Hm, I don't think I have anything really deep to add to late S7 romance. Mulder and Scully were vibing post all things-- happy, peaceful, content. On a new wavelength with each other. It's the type of relationship that speaks for itself, hence why I have to resort to S8 to dig up fresh material. ;)))

On the other hand, I think Hollywood A.D. would actually serve as the perfect example of what you're looking for... so, I guess I need to write meta on that episode in the future. XDD In the meantime, I highly recommend this interview wherein David discusses his ideas behind that episode, Amor Fati, The Unnatural, and his other contributions to the series. (And on an entirely separate sidenote, I kind of already tackled Hollywood A.D. in this teeny tiny fic I wrote for Mulder's birthday last year~.)

If you're more interested in S9 and IWTB and Revival analyses, I'd recommend @deathsbestgirl or @thursdayinspace. :DDDD

[sophieinwonderland]

Hello! So recently I’ve been, yet again, venturing into plural spaces, because of confusion with my own identity as a singlet- or a possible plural.

So I have people in my head. They used to be just voices, but as more time went on and we talked more they started to be more than that. Now they have names- that they or we picked- and different sexualities and different genders than me, and a whole other bunch of differences from me. I even know they look different than me- one looks kind of similar but not identical, and the other two are quite different. One is even a shapeshifter.

But they still seem almost… fake to me. I feel like I’m making it all up because sometimes it feels like I’m just making them say things, even though even now one of them is trying to talk to me. So I guess my question is, is there any way to make them feel more real so I stop doubting? Like ways to visual better or easier ways to allow fronting and the like? Maybe a way I could go into the Inner World or Wonderland (Which I do know we have)?

- 👑🐉 (If Taking These Are Okay)

First, so sorry to have taken so long to get to this. We've had a busy week.

I'd highly recommend reading this article I wrote about how to know if your imaginary friend is sentient. While geared towards tulpas, the test can apply to any "voices" you experience.

A lot of fighting doubt is going to involve keeping track of your experiences and holding onto them later. (Write them down if you need to.) Those things that you just can't explain, that make the idea of "actually, I'm a singlet," seem absolutely silly.

If you're like we were in the beginning, you've probably dismissed the people in your head as figments of your imagination for so long that it's no wonder you would feel like they aren't real. One thing that's important to understand is that this isn't because they're actually fake. But because you've ascribed the trait of fakeness to them.

What you're experiencing, I think, might be a problem of categorization. Imagine that you lived your whole life looking at pink but not having a word for it. Instead, you just call it red.

Whenever you look at pink, all you see is another shade of red.

And I think this is part of what's going on here, and why we tend to doubt our headmates so much.

If you've always identified the actions of these headmates as made up by you, then it's harder to see identify that they're in control themselves and always have been.

Just as you could be looking at the pink but your brain would still interpreting it as another shade of red, you're looking at autonomous self-conscious agents in your brain, but your brain is still trying to convince you that it's all just you.

If you think immersing yourself in a Wonderland would help fight the doubts, I have a list of guides to help with that here:

You may also be interested in pursuing switching and partial possession. This has actually helped us a lot, since I got to the point where I can dispel my host's doubts by forcefully taking control of a hand.

You can also see more possession and switching guides in the Tulpanomicon and test different techniques until you find one that works for you:

Hope these can help! Best of luck to you and your headmates on your journey! Sending my love to you and your headmates! (Be sure to pass it on for me!) 💖💖💖

[mecachrome]

for an incredibly new f1 follower, what would you recommend for getting up to date with teams and racers and performances and history? apart from dts lol

oh that is a good question!!! i don't think i'm even the best person to answer this but honestly i think it all comes naturally if you pick a specific thing/team/person you're interested in and set out to learn more about that topic, because everything is so connected and with time you can fill in those knowledge gaps pretty quickly :') more under the cut:

dts is imo perfectly acceptable for learning names and faces for the first time and basically creating a vague outline of a given subject (i've said it's like using duolingo for learning a new language lol), so if you watch it and are like oh—i'm interested in charles or mercedes or learning more about technical regulations or whatever, then you can just dive deeper into that via wiki / youtube / podcasts + published media + old race archives and build up from there!

otherwise i think the main thing is just to start watching the actual races when the season gets underway, and in order to properly appreciate them then also read up on + watch videos about the technical/strategy side of the sport as well. back in the day i used to really like chain bear and i still always recommend it to anyone who asks! after that i would just seek out like... a community/server/place where other people are discussing news real-time; this could be meeting people on tumblr and twitter, but personally i'm subscribed to r/formula1 because it's the most active composite source of f1 news and Discourse. if you're reddit-averse i also just keep a big list on twitter with a bunch of random data accounts, official driver/team accounts, journalists, etc. that helps me keep up with the season in a tidy fashion—though honestly f1 journalism is so unserious that you don't really need to do that because most journos regurgitate the same three quotes in slightly different formats, so if you want to follow One Guy who won't disseminate bs info i'd recommend chris medland. or just general sport publications like autosport, motosport.com, the athletic if you're already subscribed to it (pretty lacking for f1 though since it's american lol), etc... some sites like the-race are very contentious though so i'd say just tread with caution!!! on the data side i personally enjoy fdatanalysis and f1telemetrydata (i've also used f1-tempo to do my own telemetry analysis but idk if that's useful). but again i'd highly recommend the subreddit since it keeps everything i just mentioned in one place anyway 😭

other media recs:

f1tv, if it's available in your area, has pretty much everything you need to follow f1 in its entirety. i hate to shill for paid media but i genuinely think it's good; you can watch every f1, f2, f3 session real-time, as well as go to the archives and revisit old races for each series from most seasons. it also has technical shows and a whole host of minidocs with bite-sized info that are probably less sensationalized than dts. if you don't have f1tv though then a lot of decent content is cross-posted to the f1 youtube so honestly the official channels are all pretty good for keeping up with the sport.

podcasts: if you're an auditory person then podcasts are a great way to deepdive into f1 history. personally i believe that 80% of men running f1 podcasts should be legally barred from ever having an opinion on motorsport, so i don't listen to that many, but i do enjoy the official f1 podcast beyond the grid (i listen to it on spotify but you can also find full transcripts on the f1 site) since, you know, they get official personnel on and i appreciate the wide range of personalities interviewed—from drivers to tps to various types of engineers. i've also heard good things about shift+f1, the race, and engine braking, but i haven't checked them out so i'd recommend just looking podcasts up yourself and seeing what vibes with you! though some podcasts are just like... I'll eat this because you're interviewing my guy but i would never watch/listen to you otherwise. (cough pit stop...)

books & autobiographies: again if you want to dive more into old f1, then you can always read a book!! i read jenson's autobiography life to the limit earlier and was very endeared, it's a super breezy but charming read ❤️ adrian newey's memoir is also a decent overview of a clearly brilliant and accomplished mind, i enjoyed the technical details and found his early career path especially interesting.

docus, movies, tv: there's also plenty of f1 media outside of f1tv, so you can always check those out; f1 movies aren't necessarily that accurate or frankly good but sometimes it's fun just for the Vibes and the love of the sport. for ex rush (2013) covers james hunt & niki lauda's rivalry, netflix has a schumacher (2021) doc, the brawn gp miniseries ft. jense came out last november, just things like that... some current individual drivers also have their own random miniseries so you can always seek those out, for ex i watched maxv's anatomy of a champion the other day just for the fun of it LOL.

i don't know whether any of this is helpful... but maybe other people can reply with their own recommendations!!!

also if you're interested in f2, f3, etc. then honestly just follow feeder series on whatever platform since they cover everything pretty well; feeder_series on twitter, r/f1feederseries, plus they do interview podcasts on youtube/spotify so i like watching those to keep up with young drivers. you can also watch chasing the dream for succinct f2 narratives; it used to only be on f1tv but it gets uploaded on youtube now so it's fairly accessible. lmk if you have any other questions or something specific you'd like more info about!!!

[silvermoon424]

The Future is Wild

If anyone is interested, I ripped my DVD set of The Future is Wild (a speculative evolution documentary series that theorizes about what life on Earth will look like 5 million, 100 million, and 200 million years into the future) and uploaded it onto my Google Drive. This series is very hard to find (and not on any streaming services) so I figured I'd do my part for a series I really love.

I recommend downloading the episodes for the best quality viewing experience, although the episodes are watchable within Google Drive (it seems like they've been downgraded somewhat though). If you're at all interested in speculative evolution or even sci-fi/biology in general, I highly recommend watching this series! It's very fun.

[bellysoupset]

Hi Soup! Hoping you can spill your secrets about how you write your characters fighting with each other and making it both realistic and still loving? I'm always so scared about writing arguments even though I know they are a natural and healthy part of a relationship. For some reason I hate admitting my characters have flaws, but I know it makes them less interesting to always be so nice to each other. You have such a knack for balancing their personalities and the reasons they get upset with each other and then their apologies later.

Hi Lis!! Its so nice answering your asks off anon 😝

Alright so I've been thinking on how to better answer this, since I was literally writing a conflict when you sent it.

I think my tips to writing arguments/conflict are these:

Start small: anything can be a source of conflict, if you're inflexible enough. You don't need to give your characters these huge flaws, you can literally write fights out of one character thinking taking the main avenue is the best way to avoid traffic, while the other think they should do a shortcut and then when they get stuck they're both frustrated. None of these things make them evil or bad, it just gives them different perspectives and that's more than enough to start a conflict.

Everyone has flaws and everyone has bad behavior. Even your most precious OC. Being very harsh: Luke is too much, Jonah is selfish, Wendy is vain, Bella is proud, Leo is possessive, Vince is spineless, Max is judgmental. These don't make them terrible people, in fact, most of these traits have their own happy flip side.

Luke is too much, so he loves with his whole heart and with absolute no sense of consequence. Luke is the type of guy who brings everyone together and that people want to impress and be liked by, but this also the type of person who's highly susceptible to criticism (in his case, his father's), who takes reckless decisions, who is scared of being alone and who clings to people too tightly.

I often think a character's flaw and biggest quality can be quite similar. Vince avoids conflicts and that's what makes him this huge, likable teddy bear, but also why he's the type of person who omits information (cough, the whole deal with moving to Doveport), who'll avoid making up his mind for as long as possible and hurt those around him because of it.

So I do recommend looking into your OCs and thinking what makes them tick. Is Rory stubborn? Proud? He did go fishing into the deep sea and didn't want to own up to it to his friends, what does that say to you about him? Which situations would cause his worst side to jump out? And how would those around him react to that?

It's okay if not all characters are understanding to your character's flaws.

Jonah gets tired of Luke's intense personality easily. He's too secure in himself to want to be liked by Luke, like most people tend to, and he's too sullen of a person to tolerate his high energy. This doesn't mean he hates Luke, but it does mean that if Lucas' starts to lean into the worst of his personality, the first to lash out at him will always be Jonah.

Noa and Rory have been together for years, but how long did it take for them to get used to each other? Did they learn to avoid fights or did they compromise in certain aspects and keep fighting in others?

Another thing to keep in mind is to keep your fights clean. Unless you want to have a huge argument that will take you time to navigate and have your OCs changing their behaviors and personality, avoid fighting below the belt. If Nora brought up Rory's dead sibling in a fight, this would be below the belt. It's the type of hit you can't come back from, that requires not only an apology, but a change in behavior.

When Leo tells Jonah to not use his mental health against him, it's the type of fight that's drawing an invisible line and one that if I had Jonah repeatedly crossing, I'd be making his character toxic. That would be totally OKAY, by the way, if I meant to do that! Writing toxic characters is fun! But its not the story I'm telling, so I don't have Jon doing that, I have his character changing.

Uhhhh this is already so so long, so I'll quit the rambling. But I just wanted to say, don't be scared to make certain parts of your characters ugly and annoying and gross, we all are these things, and having someone who loves us despite our flaws and maybe even because of our flaws is much deeper than pretending to be perfect.

[lakefama]

Hi Lake! I just started reading Heart Work and I'm in love. I've never seen a storyboard web series before either, how does drawing and posting it work compared to a comic? It's a really interesting medium that I'd love to learn more about, it seems like a great blend of comic and animation that would fit something I've been working on beautifully.

thanks for your kind words! :'0 i'd love to see more storyboard-comic series out there - storyboarding is often thought of as a pre-production process but imo it's such an efficient and engaging means of telling a story on its own.

i use the same program for Heart Work that i use for my storyboarding day job - Storyboard Pro - for all the drawing & art (but you could easily use any other program you're comfortable boarding in like Photoshop or CSP). to compile and post it, i export all the panels individually and combine them into a PDF in Adobe Bridge, and then upload the PDF to SpeakerDeck which gives me slideshow embed to put on the website.

in some ways it's probably a bit more labor intensive than comics but in some ways it's maybe easier. i try to add 2-3 panels of posing for each line of dialogue on screen so that you can tap through the embeds at a fairly steady pace, so there's potentially a heavier drawing load than for standard comics (though i definitely don't draw as clean or detailed as most comics). but i also find stuff like revising the art easier - with comics if a moment in the story or visuals changes it can affect the layout and art of the entire page, but it's very easy to edit/remove/add to boards.

sorry that may not be a terribly helpful answer! I'd highly recommend looking at story artists' portfolios too if you'd like to purse a medium like the one i use for heart work, since it's nearly identical to what story artists use for their portfolios!

[lightbrand]

do you have a guide for someone who wants to get into alyuri? like the stories and stuffs?

OH YOU ASKED AT THE PERFECT TIME because I literally was hoping to make a general guide about them and their stories across not just Granblue Fantasy but also their original Rage of Bahamut incarnations and their Dragalia Lost cameos because they're about to rerun the BEST ALYURI EVENT EVER on July 15 in GBF. Long post ahead!

As for where to START, I highly recommend going in with the Granblue Fantasy story (which is where I found them at first), as there is a clear continuity and story progression with dedicated setup, plot, character building, and (now that there's been plenty of events and fate episodes) some truly delicious payoff. In addition, they're fully voiced with some beautiful CGs and art, and are incredibly fun to just watch audiobook/VN style! Their voice actors breathe so much life into the story. Most of these are available to see on YT, but I can link them for good measure since this will be like, a diet resource post. I wasn't able to find the first two Light SSR Albert (I might go record them from my own game in a bit) or Summer Yurius episodes, and I don't have him in the game [screaming and crying] but the GBF wiki has full text transcripts of those.

For a reading order, it goes like this:

-Light SSR Albert Fate Episodes 1+2 (Not REQUIRED per se, but a good intro to his character)

-Eye of the Storm (Side Story) [Personally, I'd recommend to start here because it properly introduces Levin and the actual story]

-[Optional] SR Albert Fate Episodes 1+2

-Wind SSR Yurius Fate Episodes 1+2

-Light SSR Albert 5*/Lv100 Fate Episode

-[Optional, placed here because of the release chronology] Summer Albert SSR Fate Episodes 1+2

-False Heroes (Event Story, is getting rerun in a few days and is in my opinion some of the best content with them bar none, I HIGHLY recommend experiencing it yourself!!!!! GBF has an event rereading function, even if you skip through it, so long as you unlock it, you can read it later)

-Dark Albert Fate Episodes 1+2

-A Sweltering Eternal Getaway (yes, the summer event is lore relevant for several important Levin characters and important to Yurius's character arc. don't worry about it.)

-[Optional] Summer Yurius SSR Fate Episodes 1+2

-[Bonus!] Here's some crumbs of an official "Bad Ending" from the ...And You event.

Now, going onto Dragalia Lost, the easiest and fastest one to actually go through, which is ironic since the game itself has long since EoS'd. It's super simple--watch Albert's Adventurer Story, then Yurius's. That's pretty much it. I really like their Dragalia Story even though it's short, since it's a fun mix of their love-hate relationship in RoB combined with the sort of care and closeness of the GBF story. There's a few character crumbs here and there in their voice lines and Wyrmprints (available on the DL wiki of course), but nothing MAJOR unless you want to go digging. The DL fanbase did a good job of archiving the game though, so if you want to see the smaller bits, they're all out there.

Now, by far the most obtuse (from an English speaking standpoint) for the least amount of reward is the Rage of Bahamut story. RoB is not accessible in English, but a few dedicated fans have compiled story summaries of all that happens. Here's a golden Twitter thread of a lot of their plot-relevant and side content in the game. They've also provided some translations and videos for some of the voiced content in RoB too! Here's a link for some of the 4komas that some fans took care of as well. Their relationship in RoB is very silly, as they never really...make up? They stay frenemies as opposed to other stories where they reconcile their pasts. Each card in RoB also contains some flavor text for the characters they feature, and a few of those are covered in the thread. The other cards are out there, but they are in Japanese, but if you're interested I could see if I could compile a quick list of the flavor texts with real rough translations. It's mostly some flavor though, not incredibly important plot-wise unless you're hungry for more of the way their RoB relationship is written.

As a small aside about RoB--it's the first incarnation of these characters, and it's ... on the older side. I think it's perfectly fair to say that originally, Yurius was something of a homosexual caricature played often as a joke, and I think it's important to understand that when looking at the older content. The newer content, however, has come quite a long way, and as someone whose been following the way Cygames has been developing their relationship for half a decade at this point, I think it's certainly improved just overall.

Well. That should be enough content to at least get that ball rolling and keep ya busy. If for some reason you get through all this and want some more crumbs or fanworks, let me know! I have many a fic/doujinshi recommendation as well :] Here's some cute official art for making it this far and forcing me to write this mini guide in prep for the False Heroes rerun !

[nobodysdaydreams]

Bods! Random question for ya:

If you had someone wanting to get into our little fandom, what fics on AO3 would you recommend to them and why? Positivity for your fellow authors is encouraged!

Fantastic question! I actually think that this entirely depends on what genre they like:

Do they prefer fluff, angst, crack, romance, friendship, what is the vibe they are going for?

Do they not have a book or show preference or do they have a strong preference?

Do they have specific characters or relationships they like to read about?

Do they want a quick one shot or a longer fic and are they okay reading a fic if the fic is in progress? This question might be more optional or mood dependent, but I thought I'd add it.

Another optional question: is there a specific type of AU they like?

Going through all the characters and possibilities might be a bit much, so I went through my bookmarks on AO3 as well as some of my mutuals works to highlight some personal favorites of mine, though that is heavily based on my preferences, so keep that in mind. If this person or indeed if anyone needs specific recommendation (e.g., "fluff featuring the four main kids book version only" or "angst involving the twins in the show" etc.) then I’d be happy to provide those, but as it is, there’s just too many wonderful author’s in the fandom and too many wonderful works to list here.

With that in mind, here is a list of some of my favorites and the genres they correspond to, while trying to provide a wide variety of authors, genres, book vs. show fics and characters. I tried to include fics I recently bookmarks so some of the newer less well-known stuff can get some attention:

nicholas and company destroy the prison industrial complex! by @mysteriouseggsbenedict: A book related crack fic about Nicholas and the mbs adults destroying the prison industrial complex. I laughed out loud while reading this, it's hilarious.

Innocent or not, you're not a bet I care to take by @sophieswundergarten: A book related angst/fluff piece about the relationships between the executives in the aftermath of canon events. It was an honor to have this gifted to me; I reread it all the time.

“There is no evil in sorcery, only in the hearts of men” by @myfairkatiecat: A show related fic that revolves around a magic AU that honest fits the show really really well and is criminally underrated. The way the element of magic is worked into the character dynamics really sells it.

here's to (never) growing up by @mollyhats: Between show and book canon (could go either way). Classic bonding and fluff with the kiddos, mostly hurt/comfort.

The Best Decision by @heyitsthatonesmolgay: the show versions of Nathaniel and Nicholas talk to their past selves. Great if you like one shots that you can read quickly, but then think about literally forever. Again, it was an honor to have this gifted to me, and I reread it all the time.

I can feel all my bones coming back and I'm craving motion by @oflightningandstars: A book fic about the Wetheralls focusing on elements of neurodivergency (which I love) that is really well written. Also includes Moocho, of course.

capture the sun by @mahpotatoequeen: A book centered fic about the life of Kate Wetherall that is really a deep dive into her character through the years. Beautifully written, a lot of hurt/comfort.

Food for Thought by @phtalogreenpoison: A book fic about Milligan and Number Two, once again focusing on hurt/comfort and disability head canons (you see now what I meant about my bookmarks reflecting my interests). Incredible read, highly recommend.

The Interview by @acollectionofcuriousreblogs: A book fic about Sticky Washington that's very good if you like angst. Super unsettling, but an amazing read.

someone only you could want by @kneeslapworthy: A show fic about SQ and Curtain's relationship healing post canon. This one is an older fic, but once again, underrated and still one of my favorites.

It's still raining by @sqenthusiast: A book fic about the executives and the shared hurt and trauma they suffer through under Curtain. Includes a lot of Jillson's POV, which is a rare one, so I really appreciated that.

Lifeline by @mvshortcut: A combination book and show fic about Constance and Nathaniel post canon. Amazing visuals, some great stuff in regards to the complexity of Nathaniel's character and brilliant utilization of Constance's psychic powers.

Fairytale by @fandom-queen-13: A book fic that is an fairytale retelling using the mbs characters (mostly the Wetheralls) that is extremely well done. I don't want to spoil anything, but if you like AUs, you should read this one.

The Alpaca by @lizardwoman-from-earths-core-2: An amazing fic that show how the show alpaca became a member of the Wetherall family.

Let all the singing follow them, and bring them comfort by @crow-in-springtime: Show Curtain takes the family to see Hades Town to make up for his many crimes. It's a fun time!

I'm sure there's a lot that I'm forgetting, again, I tried to provide a bit of a variety here, but if any of you ever have specific requests, I would be happy to dig those out for you.

And feel free to add onto this post if you want!